Holly Johnson Antiques welcomed Visiting Professor Manchester School of Art, Honorary Member Royal Ulster Academy artist Stephen Snoddy to their Knutsford showroom on Thursday 4th November for the preview launch event of “Beyond”.
The Beyond exhibition, which is showcasing at the showroom until Thursday 2 December, features a series of works by Stephen Snoddy which pay in part homage to the great pioneer artist Henri Matisse who often used the window as a motif.
The open window motif serves not only as a metaphor for the very act of seeing, but also as a formal device from where to pare down the image to formal essentials. Matisse believed in an art stripped down to its essentials simplifying an image, “like you might prune a tree.” Snoddy develops these ideas through colour juxtapositions and other influences come into play which reference Mark Rothko, Richard Diebenkorn, Brice Marden and Sean Scully. Snoddy also moves between figurative elements and formal abstraction to create works of balance and poise that often have a dialogue between inside and outside and have a strong internal order.
By using his own work as a template for new variations resulting in a continuous and limitless visual narrative this then develops into a serial approach. Relationships between the works with elements from one often re-occurs in the subsequent work. The final result is a balanced resolution through corrections and revisions to get everything right – colour, space, line, form and structure.
For the first time ever, Stephen will exhibit the full range of techniques with paintings, works on paper, pastels, monotypes and new gouache and ink works. This will demonstrate the full range of available works with a Matisse theme that ties “Beyond” together.
Visit the Stephen Snoddy exhibition at our two-storey showroom, located at St Ann's House, Market Place, off King Street, Knutsford.
About Stephen Snoddy
-
Honorary Member Royal Ulster Academy
-
Visiting Professor Manchester School of Art
Born in Belfast, MA Fine Art from Belfast College of Art, Stephen has had solo shows in Brussels, Southampton City Art Gallery and recently at Paul Smith, Mayfair, London and has been included in many group exhibitions. He was shortlisted for the Greater Manchester Arts Prize in 2019.
His work is in the following Public Collections: Art Care, Southampton City Art Gallery, Ulster TV, Open University, Southampton Solent Uni, Yantai Art Museum and in Private Collections in the UK, USA, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Ireland, Germany, Singapore and Belgium.
